Eric Pudsey (22.05.24 – 02.01.11)

Eric died peacefully at a Care Home in Hull after a long illness.

He was the Vice President of Yorkshire Contract Bridge Association from 1999 but was best known as Yorkshire Secretary from 1980 to 1999, a role which he combined with that of Treasurer for many of those years. He received a Dimmie Fleming Award in 1999 following his retirement, in recognition of his tremendous commitment to bridge administration.

He was also one of the leading Yorkshire bridge players particularly during the 1980s and was selected to represent the county at all levels on many occasions.

Eric left school at the age of 16 to work at a local Estate Agents, but in 1942 he was conscripted into the army and in 1946 was posted to Rangoon where he became editor of the forces newspaper, the Burma Star. After being demobbed in 1947 he obtained a science degree from Hull University and qualified as a teacher. He spent the rest of his career teaching at schools in Hull and never married.

Yorkshire bridge owes a great deal to Eric and he will be fondly remembered by the county as both a player of the highest quality and for his unstinting commitment to the county’s administration.

The funeral will take place at the Northern Cemetery, Hull on Monday 17 January 2011 at 11.00 a.m.

Stratified Simultaneous Pairs: 7-11 March 2011

Stratified Simultaneous Pairs are a new type of club competition which gives pairs of all abilities the chance to shine at national level. Even if a pair never manages to come in the top half of your usual duplicate, they still have the possibility of doing well in their ‘strat’ (category) in this event and coming near the top nationally to win a good number of master points.

The EBU will be holding five separate Stratified Sims with different hands and ranking lists on each day from Monday 7 March to Friday 11 March 2011, so a club can participate on more than one day.

As usual for Simultaneous Pairs, there will be enhanced master point awards. In addition, national ranking lists and master points will be produced each day in each of four categories:-

• Overall
• For pairs both members of which are below the rank of Tournament Master.
• For pairs both members of which are below the rank of Star Master.
• For pairs both members of which are below the rank of District Master.

Pairs who feature in the master point awards in two or more of these categories will receive the highest of the awards available to them. Hand records and commentaries specially written with the club player in mind will be available online so that your members can study them afterwards.

The entry fee for the Stratified Sims is £2 per player — less than the usual entry fee.

The EBU will donate £250 to a charity chosen by the pair in Division D who achieve the highest percentage during the week.

The Sims will be administered and scored for the EBU by ECats. Organising a Simultaneous Pairs for your club is very simple. Anna Gudge, who arranges them on our behalf, will send you an organiser pack via email containing everything you need, and she is always available to help if you have queries. This competition is open to EBU affiliated clubs only, so why not give it a try at your club? Do get in touch with Anna to book your club into the Stratified Sims. You can email her by clicking here or telephone her on 01787 881920.

For more on how stratification works please see this article.

List of clubs entered

Under 21s win World Silver

The U21s have won silver at the World Championships in Philadelphia. Congratulations to Tom Paske, Graeme Robertson, Shivam Shah, James Paul, Tom Rainforth and Dan McIntosh with captain Michael Byrne and coach Alan Shillitoe. They lost to Poland in the final.
Read Alan's account of the event on the Selex Blog.

Earlier, the Hackett team (Paul Hackett, John Holland, Gunnar Hallberg and Americans Reese Milner and Garey Hayden) won gold in the Seniors event.
World Bridge Series

Dimmie Fleming Awards, 2010

The English Bridge Union is proud to announce that the following people have been awarded the prestigious Dimmie Fleming award for services to bridge. The awards are made specifically to publicly recognise those who have worked hard promoting bridge locally at County and Club level. This is a momentous occasion, because we have ten winners this year!

The winners for 2010 are:
David & Anne Gilling, Bedfordshire
Dave Harrison, Cambs & Hunts
Geoff Bell, Cumbria
Anne Swannell, Gloucestershire
Derek Rue, Gloucestershire
Mike Minting, Hertfordshire
Bill McCarthy, Oxfordshire
Peter Langston, Sussex
Ted Bond, Yorkshire

Congratulations to all of them.

Photos of this years winners
About the Award
Who was Dimme Fleming?
Past winners

AGM Results

As members may know, the Annual General Meeting of the English Bridge Union took place yesterday (Wednesday 6 October) in London.

Election of Directors
Eight positions are now subject to election each year since the Article changes passed by the shareholders on 1 July 2010. Eight candidates were nominated and agreed to stand. All were elected.

Directors Elected:
Sally Bugden
Heather Dhondy
Jeremy Dhondy
Suzanne Gill
Michael Hill
Graham Jepson
Malcolm Oliver
Andrew Petrie

Thanks were given by the Chairman to retiring members: Alan Nelson, Jeff Morris and Martin Pool for all their work over the years whilst on the Board.

There being no other candidates for the roles, the following remained in their positions:

Chairman - Sally Bugden
Vice Chairman - Andrew Petrie
Treasurer - Michael Hill

Laws & Ethics Committee
Three nominations were received for the three vacancies and thus there was no need for an election:
Frances Hinden
Neil Morley
Tim Rees

Miss Hinden and Mr Morley will be re-elected, and Mr Rees elected, for a three-year term of office expiring in 2013.

Tournament Committee
Three nominations were received, for three places, so no election required:
Margaret Curtis
Philip Mason
Andrew Petrie

Mrs Curtis, Mr Mason and Mr Petrie will be re-elected for a further three-year term of office expiring in 2013.

Selection Committee
Two nominations were received, for two places, so no election required:
Heather Dhondy
Paul Hackett

Mrs Dhondy and Mr Hackett will be re-elected for a further three-year term of office expiring in 2013.

AGM Nominations

Nominations for the AGM on the 6th October 2010

Nominations received as at 15th September 2010 (closing date)

Board
Eight positions are now subject to election each year since the Article changes passed by the shareholders on July 1st 2010. Eight candidates have been nominated and have agreed to stand. As such, there will be no need for an election for the eight positions available.

Sally Bugden
Heather Dhondy
Jeremy Dhondy
Suzanne Gill
Michael Hill
Graham Jepson
Malcolm Oliver
Andrew Petrie

Officers
Sally Bugden – Chairman
Andrew Petrie – Vice-Chairman
Michael Hill – Treasurer

Tournament Committee
The election this year is for three positions serving a three year term of office expiring in 2013 – no election required.

Margaret Curtis (re-elected)
Philip Mason (re-elected)
Andrew Petrie (re-elected)

Selection Committee
The election this year is for two positions serving a three year term of office expiring in 2013 – no election required.

Paul Hackett (re-elected)
Heather Dhondy (re-elected)

Laws & Ethics Committee
The election this year is for three positions serving a three year term of office expiring in 2013 – no election required.

Frances Hinden (re-elected)
Neil Morley (re-elected)
Tim Rees (newly elected)

Ian Muir

The EBU is extremely sad to announce the death of Ian Muir from Cramlington in the North East. Ian was a member of the EBU's Panel of Tournament Directors and a Senior Congress TD.

He died in his sleep on Saturday after a long illness. Our thoughts are with his friends and family at this sad time.

Please read his Obituary here.

Funeral Details:
Ian's funeral will take place on Tuesday 21st September, at 1.30 pm, at Whitley Bay Crematorium. There will be a post funeral bash at the Briardene pub afterwards.

Warren Buffett Cup, 2010

by Paul Hackett

The greatest bridge stars in the world will be at Miskin Manor near Cardiff from the 13-16 September when Europe plays the USA for the third time for the Warren Buffett Cup.

The European team are all world champions. Fulvio Fantoni with Claudio Nunes and Giorgio Duboin with Antonio Sementa are the two pairs from Italy. Fulvio is currently ranked number one in the world and, between them, they have countless world and European titles.

Norway also has two pairs. Geir Helgemo with Tor Helness and Boye Brogeland with Erik Saelensminde. Tor has the distinction of also having won a world title at poker. Boye and Erik are playing in the teams today, though not in the same team. Germany’s representatives are Sabine Auken and Daniela von Arnim. Fitness fanatics, they have been finalists in a major world or European event every year since 1991. Jason and Justin Hackett are England’s representatives. Interestingly, Justin’s world ranking (35th) is exactly the same as that of Barbara, his wife, in the World Ladies. Their father, Paul, captains the team.

Team USA also has a fantastic line-up. Bob Hamman, ranked Number 1 in the all time world rankings, is partnering Zia Mahmood. Believed by many to be the world’s best pair, Eric Rodwell and Jeff Meckstroff (known as Meckwell) are making their first appearance in the Buffett Cup. Winners of the Cavendish five times, Bobby Levin and Steve Weinstein are back. Fred Gitelman, founder of BBO, is partnering Geoff Hampson who has played in every Buffett Cup. Jill Meyers, number 1 in the all-time Women’s world ranking, is playing with Jill Levin, who is married to Bobby. Completing the team is one of the world’s fastest players, Alan Sontag, and David Berkowitz. David came out with the classic remark “I’m not even the best bridge player in my own house”. He is married to Lisa, a world champion in her own right. For the third time running Donna Compton captains the USA team.

Do come and watch. Play is daily between 10.00 and 19.30 and, for those of you who cannot get there, please visit http://www.bridgebase.com/ where every board from every table will be shown live. The event starts with pairs, followed by teams and ending with an individual.

Visit http://www.buffettcup.com/ for more information on the Cup.

John Armstrong Memorial Award - Winner, 2010

By Danny Davies

At the Brighton Congress, it was announced that Bob Rowlands is this year’s winner of the John Armstrong Award.

'Its pretty strange being 17 and being shipped off to London on a regular basis to train to be a junior bridge international. Especially when the one thing I can't get out of my mind is, knowing most of my friends would be out in Sheffield working out which pub they could get into without having ID. It just made me feel worse, thinking pints of cider were 2 for 1 at the Beehive pub, as my train arrived at St Pancras. The tube was a gloomy place and maybe if I turned around now and got back on the train to Sheffield, would I be able to meet my mates for last orders and then see if I could get into KiKis nightclub... Having said that how would I move the business man out the way, to get off the underground. So I stayed on the train and got off at Barons Court. I followed the directions well trod by so many bridge players to Queens Club Gardens and used the key I had been sent to get into the posh building. I knocked on number 4 and heard steps coming to the door...

Looking back now I'm 38, its pretty tough to explain how amazing it is that someone would go that far out of their way... We didn't have much money at home, and I am pretty sure without the support and mentoring from Bob Rowlands, in fact I can guarantee I couldn't have afforded to go and play in Raymond Brock's Junior squad. Bob provided me with a place to stay in London, bought me take away food, gave me hands to bid and play but perhaps most importantly helped me understand how the game should be played; with courtesy, respect to partner and opponents as well as to win.

It isn't just me that Bob has provided food, shelter and coaching to... in fact it would be pretty impossible to list a Junior, Ladies or Open international team in the last 20 years that doesn't have a member of the team who Bob has helped. He is a proof there are good people playing bridge today and someone I along with many others continue to be thankful to. Bob's actions are extraordinary in his support of bridge players of all skills, ability and age. His selfless approach at the bridge table and away from it makes him the perfect winner of this years John Armstrong award...

An ash has now been planted for Bob Rowlands and an oak in memory of John. Anyone wishing to pay tribute to the late John Armstrong can visit Heritage Wood, near Ashbourne, Derbyshire, where trees and bulbs are planted yearly in his memory as well as a bench placed in his name.

Seniors Camrose Trial 2010

The EBU Selection Committee plans to hold a Seniors Team Trial to select a team for the Seniors Camrose Trophy to be held in England on 27th – 29th May 2011. Applications are invited from teams of up to six players, all of whom qualify to represent England and were born in 1951 or before. Participation in the Trial will be subject to the Conditions of Contest which will be available on request from 15th October 2010, and the winning team will compete in the Seniors Camrose Trophy on a self-funding basis.

Date(s) and venue of Trial
The weekend of 17th-19th December has been reserved for the Trial. The venue and precise timings (including the use of Friday 17th December , as necessary) will be announced when the level of entries is known. The format will be a round-robin, with the winning team guaranteed selection.

Closing date for entries
Entries should be submitted to Sandra Claridge, 31 Elm Trees, Long Crendon,
Aylesbury HP18 9DG, or by email to claridge31@tiscali.co.uk to reach her by 8th November 2010.

Entry fee
The entry fee of £280 per team should be submitted to Peter Jordan at the EBU. Tel 01296 317203, email peter@ebu.co.uk.